Wednesday, March 13, 2013

My Experience with Injustice

On December 16, 2012, I bought a car wash groupon
ticket from Fast N Clean car wash
through groupon.com. Fast N Clean car
wash is located at 4881 Sinclair road, Columbus, OH 43229. When I purchased my
ticket, I called Fast N Clean car
wash to schedule a car detailing that included blue Coral polish and
wax, clear coat protectant, wheel bright and black magic tire shine, rain-X and
fragrance, underbody rinse, hand towel dry, dash and interior surface wipe down,
interior and exterior window cleaning, and floor-mat vacuum.
The deal on the groupon stated “Three full car washes.” It was a $75 value that
I purchased for $29. A few hours later, I called Fast N Clean to schedule my appointment for the 28th of December at
8:00am.

When I arrived at Fast N Clean on the 28th, I waited 30 minutes before the manager
finally came to attend to me. He told me my appointment had been canceled due
to the weather. FYI, NO ONE in this company called me to tell me about the
cancellation prior to my arrival. I was told by the Mike, the manager to call
and reschedule for another day.

A few days later, I called Fast N Clean to reschedule my appointment. I was rescheduled for
January 9, 2013 at 9am. Upon arriving for my appointment, I was again attended
to by Mike who informed me that my name was not on the schedule. I was furious.
He told me I had not called or probably called the wrong location. I pulled out
my phone and showed him proof of my phone call, including the date and time of
the call, and the number of minutes I spent during that phone call. A couple of
minutes passed by, and the manager found my name listed in the back of the book
he had written the names of the scheduled appointees for that day. Afterwards,
the manager said, “I still cannot wash your car today sir, we are short
staffed.” I informed him this was my second attempt to have my car wash, but he
continually argued with me until he eventually agreed to wash my car first
thing the following day. When I returned the following day, my car was detailed,
and I was given a voucher that proved I was eligible for 3 details. The voucher
is a small card given to customers that buy their tickets through groupon. The
phrase ‘3 details’ was handwritten by Mike.

At this point, I became very dissatisfied with their
service, but I wanted to use my money’s worth, so I told myself I would endure
till I utilized the other two car services. I called Fast N Clean towards the end of February 2013, and I was told by Mike
that the next available date was March 7 at 830am.

I arrived at Fast
N Clean at 7:54am and was told to wait till 8am when the car wash
officially opened.

Upon my arrival, the same manager told me he could not wash
my car because I had 'defrauded' him into detailing my car the last time, so I
had used up my money. I was told my last detailing was meant to be $69 but I
utilized the $200 service.FACT: I paid
FOR AN INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR DETAILING SERVICE THROUGH GROUPON. When I made
this point clear to Mike, he changed the story and stated that my coupon had
expired. So I logged on to the groupon app on my phone and showed him proof
that my voucher was still valid. It showed that it expires on March 20. When he
saw this, he said I was only allowed to use it once. His statement was FALSE;
the ticket itself states ‘Three full car washes.’

When he saw this, he said, “I don’t care what you
say, I’m still not washing your car today.”Afterwards he asked me to leave and threatened to call the cops if I did
not leave immediately. All this while, I had been in my car while he was
yelling on my face. I welcomed his threat and told him I would wait to talk to
the cops upon their arrival. The manager (Mike) called one of his workers and I
saw them dial a number- I am unsure the number they dialed. I waited for 10-20
minutes but no cop showed up.

The manager comes again and tells me to leave, that
he doesn’t care what I say because he is not washing my car. So, I asked him to
put it in writing, stating he was refusing to offer me service, when in fact he
was supposed to offer the service. But he denied and began to curse at me. The
manager of Fast N Clean car wash said,
“I ain’t writing sh$%.” I did not respond with a single curse word.Before I left, I told him he would meet me in
court. I drove off afterwards.

MLK said, “In justice anywhere, is injustice everywhere.”
I absolutely think it is unjust to deny me service when I have all the rights
to that service. I understand that we live in a progressive America where all
individuals are supposed to be treated equal, but the fact remains I was
treated like an animal by Fast N clean.
Although I received my refund from Groupon the next day, this is more about
injustice than getting my refund. I believe if Mike was able to get away with
this condescending act with me, he would not hesitate to use the same
irrational behavior on other customers.

I write this to speak out against injustice. I don’t
know if the mere fact that I'm black or have a non-American accent plays a role in
the manager’s decision to treat me like an animal, but I do not think this is
right. It is absolutely unjust! I encourage everyone who reads this to speak
out against injustice by sharing this article and telling your friends and
family about the bad customer service at
Fast N Clean. BTW, they have a ‘F’ rating by Better Business Bureau.